Upscale library restaurant is a dessert lover's wonderland
By : Will Sartori
The new University Library is an odd place to find an upscale eatery. The new University Library in and of itself is an odd building. My dining partner for the evening said it best. "It's like hi-tech Victorian under a grunge roof," Juice said as he surveyed Restauracja Biblioteka. "It's a very grand setting. I feel like everything is large."
And indeed it was. Oversize wineglasses and plates were spread wide on large, high tables, which were spaced generously enough to keep you from being disturbed by your neighbors. The chairs were comfortably wide and solid. The ceilings were high and unfinished with exposed ducts and other industrial touches. The overall effect reminded me of being a child, when all the furniture and utensils seemed huge, and going out to restaurants was an imposing, mysterious ritual.
The place was reasonably filled for a Tuesday night, with diners distributed over a floor space that is divided into two restaurants: upscale Italian on the left and international fine dining on the right. The table settings in the Italian half were more modest, as were the prices.
The menu was simple but enticing. Starters ranged from zl. 25-zl. 45, first courses from zl. 19-zl. 35, and main courses from zl. 49-zl. 65. The wine choice was easily made. In fact there hardly was a choice. As soon as I saw the Sartori Regolo 1995 (zl. 95), I knew we had to have this spicy red wine. It took a while for the bottle to breathe, but by the end of our meal, we were savoring the last drops of this deliciously complex vintage. The seven-page wine list included 74 varieties, all Italian. Whites ranged from a modest zl. 39 for the Sartori Lugana La Carega '98 to a still modest zl. 85 for a Frattoria di Felsina I Sistri Chardonnay '97. Reds also started at zl. 39, for a Bertani Bardolino Classico Superiore '97 and topped off at zl. 1,049 for Bertani Amarone '64. Most of the wines listed were under zl. 100.
Our waiter came with various breads arranged on a linen napkin. The walnut fruit bread was very good and disappeared right away, but some of the others were slightly stale and chewy. Then a surprise arrived at our table in the form of a tuna carpaccio with generous amounts of lettuce garnish. It was pleasant, but nothing to write home about.
Soon our meals arrived and the real eating began.
Juice started off with the pigeon carpaccio in honey and wild mushroom sauce (zl. 45), which was described as "out-of-this-world delicious in a subtle way." I started with the zielone taglioli (zl. 35): grilled prawns and stewed tomatoes on green pasta with a mild dose of spicy sauce. The combination was delicious, easy on the tongue, and not too filling.
My follow-up, beef medallions in balsamic sauce (zl. 49), are served rare if not specified, and these were rare enough to have thrown my predecessor, Nick Conrad, into fits of delight. If rare is the way the chef wants this dish eaten, then rare it should be. The subtly complex sauce did not overpower the rare beast.
Juice had lamb in juniper sauce (zl. 65). Juniper sauce usually has an aromatic taste, and is somewhat like eating a Christmas tree, but this was sweet and fruity. The lamb itself was also rare; it appears Biblioteka is a good place to come to appreciate the taste of a good cut of fresh meat.
After finishing our mains, it was time to savor the last of the wine. We ordered dessert and cappuccino (zl. 7) after getting recommendations from our friendly waiter, who had earlier told us that desserts were the chef's specialty. Flipping through a full-color book on Italian desserts, we marveled at the beautifully styled and photographed creations.
"These are lovely, but there's no way we are going to get anything like this," I told Juice. I was wrong.
When my pasztet orzechowy (zl. 29) arrived, it was as if a work of art had landed on my table. Walnut terrine was sandwiched by triangles of shortbread, and garnished with fresh raspberries and mango. The plate was topped with a caramelized candyfloss halo eight inches high. It was stunning. I couldn't do anything but stare at it for 10 minutes. Then I found out it was delicious too.
Juice had the souflet czekoladowy (zl. 25), which was not so majestically displayed but still beautiful and delicious. It featured a bitter chocolate pastry accompanied by mint sorbet and strawberry syrup. The pastry would be enough to send chocoholics into subtle ecstasy but the combination was fantastic. "It's like a war between sweet and bitter in your mouth," Juice said. If the restaurant had impressed us before then, dessert delivered the knockout blow.
After the coffee, we also received a plate of cookies but only the dark chocolate ball impressed us. The rest were a letdown after the stupendous desserts. Juice summed up the situation: "It's like drinking champagne all night, and killing it off by stopping for a beer on the way home."
Dinner for two with wine, coffee and dessert came to zl. 365 ($85). At a time when Warsaw restaurants are spending more and more money on splashy decorations, the owners of Biblioteka invested in quality furnishings and a talented chef. The food was wonderful from beginning to end and the service polite and attentive. Restauracja Biblioteka seems well suited for entertaining clients but is not quite intimate enough for romantic dinners. Only couples who can actually converse with each other should try dining at these large tables. But it also would be a fine place to stop for dessert at the end of a romantic evening. To eat here and not have dessert would be like missing the entire restaurant.
